PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE: Alpine Miniatures - LSSAH, Kampfgruppe Meyer, Kharkov 1943

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the words of Wilbur Smith "War is the game played by old men with the lives of the young". The pawn in this game is the combat soldier, represented by the miniature toy soldier; an insignificant being on the battlefield. Combat is the most intense moment of war, where life and death balances on a knife's edge. The results are terrifying and reveal the worst part of our human nature. Conversely, there are moments when it exudes the best of our human spirit. Most of the miniatures you see here are diligently researched from historical sources and handcrafted between scales of 1/35 to 1/16 (approx 50mm to 120mm). The intricate rendition of human expression and fine details not only demonstrates the level of craftsmanship but also serves as a reminder of the fragile nature of human life. I represent no political bias though my miniature creations. My aim is to portray humanity through the chronicles of military history and thus it is my pleasure that I present to you my weblog Perspectives in Miniature.

Calvin Tan

WWII GERMAN UNIFORMS - PERSONAL MIXES BY CALVIN TAN

In conjunction with AK Interactive, this exclusive Gen 3 acrylic paint set is specially composed with the essential colours that I use to render WWII German Uniforms. It contains 18 colours and a small pamphlet with my personal colour mixes. If you are keen to acquire all the colours on my palette to paint a field grey tunic, a splinter pattern zeltbahn, an oak-leaf pattern smock or the Kharkov anorak, look no further, this is the set for you to get started.

CALVIN TAN'S BASIC GUIDE TO FIGURE PAINTING

This instructional DVD published by Model Art magazine was primarily developed for the beginner armour and diorama modeller in mind. The video presentation will feature a variety of easy to master techniques used to render a 1/35 scale plastic injected moulded figure.Topics include proper paint application techniques, choice of brushes as well as some little tricks for painting fine detail. It is fundamentally a showcase of some of my methods and techniques for painting military figures and I am certain it will prove beneficial for any modeller who wishes to improve on figure painting. It is currently available in both Japanese and English.

CALVIN TAN'S GUIDE TO CONVERTING AND PAINTING FIGURES

In this third instalment, I will share my techniques and materials to customize and detail an inexpensive stock plastic figure. Watch as I take you through the steps on how I modify a pose, model details such as hands, belts and webbing and insignias. Learn about working effectively with epoxy putty as well as plastic styrene and paper. As a continuation from my first two DVDs, I will demonstrate how to model and paint a simple groundwork as well as an alternate approach using a monochromatic underpainting to render both a field grey tunic and the World War 2 German Splinter Camouflage pattern on a helmet cover. If you have enjoyed and benefitted from those previous titles, this edition will be a welcome addition to your journey in scale figure modelling – regardless of your current skill level. It is my sincere hope that this could inspire you to embark on your own creative adventure in this fantastic hobby. .

Friday 14 March 2008

Alpine Miniatures - LSSAH, Kampfgruppe Meyer, Kharkov 1943

Labels: Alpine Miniatures - LSSAH Kampfgruppe Meyer Kharkov 1943 Posted by CALVIN TAN at 12:01

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Here's finally a much anticipated preview of the contents from the parcel from Jersey. I must "POINT" out that these two figures are nothing short of disap"POINTING" and I do encourage all the make an ap"POINT"ment to get them as soon as they hit the shops.

Punts aside, I must say that the casting was predictably good with very minimal flash. The likeness of Kurt Meyer, which though gave Taesung some headaches, was spot on. One could imagine more Kurt Meyer figures in the Italian Camo tunic circa Ardenne Abbey, Normandy 1944 , M36 tunic circa Klissura Pass, Greece 1941 or the more stylist Kradmantel at Mariupol 1941 get my "POINT"? :P

The components came together very nicely with virtually no gaps to fill. The groundwork was built up using some epoxy putty and littered with artifacts found from my box of modelling scraps. Before setting, the figures were impressed into the base for a natural fit.

The figure and the groundwork was primed with Gunze Sanyo Flat Black using an airbrush.

As a time saving measure, I used an airbrush to undercoat the base colours of the uniforms in Vallejo acrylics.

Rendering of the faces.

Soldier in the Kharkov anorak

Preliminary highlighting

Changed the colour of the trousers.

Kurt Meyer

More updates soon....

Calvin

3 comments:

Dani Serrano said...: I must "POINT" that those beauties are a really MUST HAVE!!! And I envy you!

Great step-by-step amigo!; 14 March 2008 at 19:28
Matt Wellhouser said...: This is awesome work Calvin. You make it look very realistic and simple!! Matt; 15 March 2008 at 09:29
Anonymous said...: These look good!
I see Taesung likes to use the same poses as previous figures and re-sculpt the uniforms, but at any point they still look great. I just tried Model color paint last night and they are much easier than I thought, so I may be a convert from oils......I really like the ease of use of them and drying time!
Glenn Bartolotti; 15 March 2008 at 21:05